By Stephanie Trotter
Trip Advisor to travel agents tout Asheville’s allure, with its mountain vistas, boutique shopping, trendy restaurants and eclectic art scene. CNN, Condé Nast, and “Forbes” name it a “top destination.” So, how do you grab a piece of the city’s tourism dollars if you’re half an hour down the road? Three years ago, and after two failed agency relationships, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority cautiously entered a partnership with Crawford Strategy. “They had a website that was not in very good shape,” reveals Andy Windham, SVP, Director of Client Strategy. “Originally, they hired us to right the ship in regard to the website. Then, over the course of a year and a half, as they began to trust us and see we are going to deliver, we became a fully integrated partner.”
The result is an award-winning campaign that captures the spirit of the destination, while nailing the all-important tourism indicator – an 11% bump in accommodations tax collections in 2018. “This campaign has been incredibly successful in bringing more visitors to the area and helping to drive economic benefit for our entire community,” states Lynn Collins, President of Haywood County TDA. Crawford Strategy, a full-service marketing and communications agency in Greenville, developed a three-step plan to roll out a red carpet to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Step One: Learning to Surf
Windham remembers exploring the original website, which was supposed to lure tourists to Haywood County. “The site was very slow, and the speed of a website is a critical component as to whether Google shows results,” he explains. “Statistics suggest people visit 38 websites before booking a trip. We didn’t want to drive people to the website and have a bad experience. So, job one was laying the foundation.” For months, the Crawford team worked on technical issues to make the site load faster and visible to search engines, and then they loaded the back-end with influential content. One year after taking over the site, analytics show web sessions jumped 5400%.
Step Two: Go Big, or Go Home
With the website in place, Crawford Strategy focused on overhauling the brand, which was tricky. They were hired to promote the county, but tourists rarely start researching vacation destinations using a specific county name. “We decided, let’s be bold,” recalls Windham. “Let’s take ownership of the Smoky Mountains! When people generally think of the Smoky Mountains, they think of Tennessee, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. But we have a lot of the Smoky Mountains in Haywood County. Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the U.S. Let’s put a stake in the ground.” “Haywood County – Authentic Appalachian, Pure & Simple” was replaced with “Visit NC Smokies,” featuring the new website: VisitNCSmokies.com.
Step Three: Making People Notice
Now it was time to get inventive and have some fun. “Travel and tourism clients tend to embrace creative and innovative strategies before other industries,” shares Windham. “What we wanted to do was bring the quirky, tongue-in-cheek attitude and vibe of the area to life in a way that was memorable and different.” With two words, just six letters, Hay Now, they’re transforming the county. “’Hay Now’ is a nod to Haywood County without saying Haywood County,” Windham points out with a sly smile. “It’s an invitation, come here now. It’s sort of like you’re giving someone the elbow, an attention grabber.” They were so sure of the slogan, they walked into the pitch meeting with just the one idea. “We knew we were on to something,” the V.P. recalls. “The minute we presented it, they went out saying, ‘hay now!,’ ‘hay now!’ It’s become a thing.”
Hay Now
Last summer, the U.S. Travel Association Destinations Council named “Hay Now” one of the top three $1 million – $2.5 million destination marketing campaigns in the nation. Crawford now runs Hay Now, Play Now, Eat Now, Stay Now themes pushing people to Maggie Valley, Waynesville, Lake Junaluska, Canton and Clyde – Haywood County’s five towns. In winter, there’s even Shred Now.
In additional to traditional advertising and PR, the campaign also utilizes some of the latest in technology, to place “aspirational and inspirational” visuals on living room big screens across the Southeast through streaming services that include Hulu and Roku. Meanwhile, the website’s homepage uses CrowdRiff to post real-time photos from visitors who use #HayNow in captions on social media. Windham strategizes saying, “Academic research shows people are now influenced by what’s going to make them look good, how their vacation photos reflect upon them. So, we make sure our destination is shown visually and that people are going to say, ‘I can’t wait to show my photos.'”
While the branding and messaging on Haywood County has earned six awards, most importantly, the work is resonating with travelers. The Magellan Strategy Group, a third-party monitor, surveyed visitors and found perceptions were spot-on for messages targeting uniqueness, outdoor activities, wildlife viewing and family attractions. Crawford’s namesake and president couldn’t be more pleased. “We are very fortunate,” reveals Marion Crawford. “To live and work in this region of the country, we have the best of all worlds, to help our client create demands for the beautiful features that surround us.”
